Harder to Score Than Beyonce Tickets: How You Could Attend Stephen Hawking's Historic Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey

Cosmologist Stephen Hawking's ashes are being interred between two of the biggest names in modern history: Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Some people think getting your picture on the wall at Sardi's is a big deal. Others think you earn your place in history when you get your own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The lucky 1,000 will be chosen at random from the pool of applicants, so mourning astrophysicists and grieving geeks definitely have a chance. The June service at Westminster will be a thanksgiving celebration of "the life and work" of Hawking, and we can only speculate which living luminaries might make an appearance.

Westminster Abbey is home to memorials for a number of other major scientists, including Michael Farraday and Edmond Halley – not to mention historic names like Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, and Sir Winston Churchill. Though not all their (physical) remains are held at Westminster, the Abbey and its grounds have become a gallery of whos-who in British history. Likewise, Hawking's service on June 15th is billed as "A Moment in History."